New Facility Processes 400.000 Non-Returnable Jugs a Day: Lindner Washtech

TAILOR-MADE WASHING LINE WITH CONVINCING EFFICIENCY

At its production centre in Syracuse the company operates one of the most modern recycling plants for post-consumer HDPE. The starting material is mostly empty but uncleaned non-returnable milk containers – 400,000 of which are processed on average per day. At the heart of the plant is a complete washing line customised by Lindner for this specific application. The systems efficiently convert this waste into an ideal input material for the recycling process in terms of purity, residual moisture and grain size.

Chad Rassi, Process Engineer at Poly-Wood, said: “We had the good fortune of being able to plan our recycling plant from scratch. The key aspect here was to ensure a high level of sustainability through the particularly efficient use of water, heating and energy, as well as low-maintenance operation, maintenance-friendly design and a high nominal throughput in continuous production. We wanted to achieve outstanding cost efficiency so as to make the recycling of plastics a success for us, both technically and economically.”

THESE LINDNER MACHINES ARE IN USE

High performance down the line: In the first step, the Micromat Plus 2000 single-shaft shredder is fed via a chain-type conveyor. This powerful shredder is designed to consistently ensure low energy consumption and high efficiency at the same time. Due to the special characteristics of used milk jugs, LINDNER customised the line by implementing a number of high-performance components. This includes the combination of Floater and Twister, the latter a highly efficient friction washer that removes any adhering paper residue and other contaminants from the plastic flakes. The grain size is further reduced to the desired dimensions in a specially adapted wet shredder. Here, a jet of water is directed at the rotor so the friction created by the shredding process can be used to detach any remaining dirt particles. This is followed by gentle drying of the cleaned material in a LINDNER Loop Dryer before the remaining fines are separated in an air-wash system. The output material can then be transferred directly to octabins, big bags or storage silos for further processing on the recycling line.